HOUSEHOLDER: Lincoln show gets done fast

Almost the entire program was reeled off without any incidents. The sprint cars ran their entire show without any caution or red flags, the 358 sprints had one yellow and one red and the thundercars had one yellow. When car counts are low this sometimes happens, but two of Lincoln's three classes had more than full fields. There were 26 sprint cars, 29 358 sprints, but only 11 thundercars.

The sprint cars ran three heat races, a consy and a feature -- 75 laps of racing in all, and not one stoppage. Likewise the 358 sprints had three heats, a consy and a feature to run, which amounted to 70 laps of racing. A caution in the consy and a red flag before one lap of the feature was completed were the only issues for that division. With the low car count, the thundercars just ran a 20-lap feature, and there was just one caution flag there.

That's 165 laps of racing, and all but two of the events were timed. The 358 sprint feature went non-stop after the red flag.

I did some calculating, and the sprint cars completed their entire program in about 19 minutes. Amazing.

PIT STOPS

ALL STARS INVADE: The touring All Star Circuit of Champions will invade the area this weekend.

They are scheduled to compete at Williams Grove on Friday and Port Royal on Saturday. Friday's slate at Williams Grove is a regular All Star program with $5,000 for the winner. The ARDC midgets will also be a part of the program. Saturday's show at Port Royal is named in memory of one of this area's greatest, and most colorful, car owners, Bob Weikert. Weikert fielded cars for some of the area's top names, and still stands near the top of all of the area win lists.

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The Bob Weikert Memorial for the All Stars at Port Royal will offer $10,000 to the winner. Last Saturday's Lincoln winner, Logan Schuchart, will invade the Port for the show, and through the efforts of the Weikert family, his car will carry the Weikert Livestock colors and the familiar No. 29. The pro stocks and an enduro dash will round out the racing card at the Port.

Trailway will try again this Friday with the 358 sprints headlining. The 600cc micro sprints, limited stocks and street stocks will also take part.

Saturday at Lincoln, the sprint cars headline, along with the 358 sprints and Legends, while at Selinsgrove the late models take top billing with a $2,500-to-win championship race. The 358 sprints, pro stocks and roadrunners also compete.

Williams Grove's Saturday Series is in action with the super sportsmen, limited-late models and street stocks on the card. Hagerstown will host the Steel Block Bandits limited-late-model series, along with the pure stocks and hobby stocks.

ENERGIZER BUNNY: We are now 16 races into the local sprint-car season, with three double Saturday night races. That means one driver could have competed in 13 races so far this season. Like the Energizer Bunny, Hall of Fame sprint-car driver Fred Rahmer just keeps going and going. Rahmer has 13 top-10 finishes in 13 local races this season.

Rahmer leads the area with three wins, and 11 of those 13 races have produced top-four finishes. In addition to the three wins, Rahmer has three seconds and five fourths. A sixth and a 10th are the other finishes.

This year's theme for the blindfold race is "Fathers and Sons." The entrants are: Scott and Andy Haus, Fred and Freddy Rahmer, Billy Pauch and Billy Jr. and Johnny Mackison Jr. and either Hunter or Jordan Mackison.

1968: The 1968 season was kicking into high gear by this time 45 years ago, so our look at the season will just include winners until things slow down again.

Friday night action featured sprints at Susquehanna and the USAC sprints at Reading. At Susky, Steve Ungar drove the backup Mikey Banas No. 69 to his first career local win. At Reading it was Greg Weld who drove to the USAC victory.

Saturday found racing at Lincoln, Selinsgrove and Port Royal. At Lincoln Kenny Weld matched his brother's feat from the night before. Kenny Weld drove his own No. 91 to his fifth local win of the season. At Selinsgrove on Saturday, Bobbie Adamson tooled Wilbur Hawthorn's No. 35 to the feature victory. The win was Adamson's first on local soil that year, but was added to his two Florida victories in February of that year. At Port Royal, Mitch Smith raced to his second win of the season. Smith wheeled the Regester Chevrolet No. 6 to the win.

Williams Grove was still racing on Sunday afternoons at that point, and Ray Tilley made it four weeks in a row with a feature win. Tilly powered Bud Grimm's potent No. 88 Ford to his first Grove win of the season, and fifth overall.

Bryan Householder writes about dirt-track racing for The York Dispatch. He can be reached at sports@yorkdispatch.com.